Sciurana
'Sciurana '''is one of the projects transferred from the speculative evolution jcink forum over to this wiki. The project is still being written. It describes the story of life on a terraformed world through a series of short stories, where the largest terrestrial creature is one that you might just find near your house: The eastern grey squirrel. The plant life includes oak trees, shrubs, and flowers, while the oceans are home to krill, coral, sea grass, and a few species of snapper. In the freshwater rivers, there are only rainbow trout and four-eyed fish, as well as everything they eat. Prologue A small fleet of cloaked alien ships is searching the Milky Way for organisms they can use to seed the universe with life. In the early 1970s, they come across Earth and are astounded at the variety of species on it. Interested most by the humble rodents, they gather a large population of squirrels from the eastern United States and warp to an Earth-like planet some 200 light years away. In 2037, after 65 years of work, the planet’s terraformation is complete and the aliens leave it behind to its own devices. 10,000 years hence It has now been a full 1,000 decades since the earliest forms of life began to populate Sciurana. After more than 5,000 generations of squirrels, the first noticeable signs of evolutionary change have begun to emerge. For the first time, a significant amount of color variation is visible between different populations of the rodents, a result of the earliest stages of speciation. Over this time, with no major threats from other animals besides the occasional bee sting, spider bite, or ants that may try to take a nibble or two at the young, relative peace and prosperity has dominated en masse. But now, things aren't so easy anymore. Already, an increasingly cannibalistic species is emerging, which has begun to prey on unguarded young in addition to the insects and seeds also eaten. All this means that the few populations of squirrel that may have established a practice of building their dreys on the ground are getting into deep trouble. However, there is also one other noteworthy development: Insectivores. This species tends to possess larger, more robust front teeth used to break through the hard exoskeletons of insects. While there has been far less change amongst said bugs, the oxygen levels are slowly but steadily rising as tracts of oaks continue to spread. Down in the oceans and rivers, isolated from the domain of the rodents, a whole other world of evolution is taking shape. Within a few years of its abandonment, the rivers and waterfalls of Sciurana's main continents were bursting with activity. Millions of trout jumped and swam through them as the first generations made their way back to the spawning ponds where they were born to lay eggs once again. With plentiful meals such as mayflies at nearly every corner, populations began to explode in scale. Similar to the events on land, the earliest discernible variations between populations are beginning to appear, such as changes in scale patterns and differences in fin/tail sizes, as at least a dozen trout species can now be traced back to the slightly smaller rainbows that appeared here over ten millennia earlier. In the open oceans, reefs are full of life as well. Several distinct types of snapper now swim the seas, some feeding on krill, others preying on crabs, while a few still maintain a more mixed, basal diet. However, this calm, quiet age would merely be the very beginning. 100,000 years hence By now, a self-sustained, stable biosphere has emerged. Even as early as this time, a fairly diverse fossil record would now be available to study. From small, chubby specimens just a tenth of a million years ago have already emerged some forms growing up to the size of most opossums. On the fields and meadows, groups of 6 inch bodied herbivores scurry through the grass, in search of fungi and seeds to munch on or return to their young. All of a sudden, screeches of distress ring through the edge of the forest. And then, it happens: The grazing rodents disperse as a fierce, foot long badger-like animal bounds out from a shrub, and takes a chewing mother by surprise - right on the neck. These creatures, descended from the earlier drey-robbing lineage and related to the insectivores, now have sharp front canines reaching almost an inch in length when the mouth is fully opened - the earliest ambush predators in the planet's history. Up in the branches of the increasingly speciated oak forests, the aggressive cries of tree-dwelling, more basal rodents persuade the predator to take its kill somewhere else, possibly back to its own young. In the seas, the legacy of what was once the humble lane snapper continues. Fish of many sizes and colors now roam the reefs as well as the shallow, seagrass-lined coastal waters where shore crab descendants as large as a human palm now feed on algae and bacteria. Some snappers now grow as long as two feet and gulp down swarms of krill further out in the wider open areas. However, smaller fish are now at risk from 30 inch, slightly elongated individuals resembling barracudas that have recently taken meat eating further than just eggs. With trout, albeit a bit bigger, still confined to the rivers, their first real issue in terms of survival is now appearing: Competition. Four-eyed fish have become an increasing nuisance, nabbing the insects floating on the rivers before others can. Confrontations, although rare, can be dangerous as fights can easily lead to torn or even severed fins. 1 million years hence A full megaannum has elapsed on the increasingly alien world of Sciurana. By this time, the little world would be far harder to reach by spacecraft assuming the descendants of humans haven't done so already. The motion of stars through and around the galactic center has displaced the squirrels hundreds of light years away from Earth, likely rendering our sun invisible to the naked eye from their vantage point by now. In the deserts, some arriving mammals have taken to a ground-dwelling, digging lifestyle, gaining slimmer bodies and notably thinner tails - the "meersquirrels". As the sun rises above the foothills of the horizon, yappy snarls echo through the valley as a pair of individuals bicker over a small shrub - one of the very earliest plant species to begin adapting to the dry, hot inland regions. Before any teeth are bared, however, hollers of alarm ring across the colony. A large individual, somewhat similar in appearance and size to a coyote, is charging right towards them. With one meersquirrel just missing the jaws of the predator, this family gets ''extremely lucky. These "desert stalkers", unlike their opossum-sized ancestors of 900,000 years ago, are fully capable of chasing down their prey - for hundreds of yards if need be. Back in the diverse forests, which now consist of the first oak descendants to re-evolve deciduous leaf cycles, the tree branches of old are still abuzz with life. "Tree crawlers" - lemur-like successors to the few basal species of squirrel - now have more flexible, grasping tails that they occasionally use when falling from a branch unexpectedly. Despite the tail change, most of these specimens are no more than 1-2 inches bigger than their acorn-eating predecessors from a million years earlier. In the seas, it's a whole new Cambrian explosion at this point. Hundreds of fish types now roam the reefs, coastal waters and pelagic seas. In the open oceans, descendants of the krill-eaters now grow up to 60 inches (about two metres) in length, having taken on a near fully filter-feeding lifestyle. Around the shallow reefs, however, trouble is brewing. The various colorful ex-snappers suddenly scatter - Then comes the blood. Sciurana's largest predator up to this time, the "ripperfish", has just taken a bite. Though the fish of its choice begins scuttling away - blood loss soon kicks in, and it eventually drifts down to the sandy reef floor. Ripperfish can grow up to four feet in length, and resemble the now extinct Earth-dwelling species of fish known as the Xiphactinus. In the warmer waters further inland, two foot long four-eyed fish bask on the rocks, now capable of surviving up to an hour out of the water and sometimes even longer. 3 million years hence The era of the earliest vegetation pumping large amounts of oxygen into the air is now reaching a major turning point. In the temperate and tropical "oak" forests, oxygen-driven lightning storms are an increasingly common threat that animals have to deal with. Lynx-sized, lagomorph-like herbivores browse the shrubs and tall grasses, keeping a lookout for any predators that might be on the stalk. While the short-faced, musteloid-like carnivores that can now grow as large as a golden retriever are a well known survival issue for them, there is another deadly result of this era of plentiful oxygen: Insects. Dragonflies as big as pigeons can easily scoop up any unguarded young from the few remaining basal rodents in the branches. But the ultimate monster of this age is something else completely: Horseflies with two foot wingspans. As a swarm of the vampires terrorizes a herbivorous forest-dweller, a group of one of the amphibious four-eyed fish species drag themselves away from the edge of a river bank on their way to a swampy pond to lay their eggs. It's a close call, but four of what were once at least ten fish on the move evade being bloodsucked to near death. At this point, with the exception of their still bulging eyes, they are now starting to bear a resemblance to the extinct Panderichthys of some 383 million years ago on a distant, distant world. But as the giant insects enjoy their heyday, a rodent species hundreds of miles away in the branches of the temperate woodlands of old may soon threaten to shoot them out of the skies for good. Another lineage of four-eye descendants has begun to move deeper out into the oceans. In the last million years, they have taken to a shallow reef roaming lifestyle, being one of the most recent contenders to join the large number of saltwater fish engaged in a constant battle for survival against the predatory ripperfish, which are now up to 7 feet long in the case of a select few species. Even the seagrass fields are going through changes now too. Regions covered in patches measuring 3 feet in height or so are now common. Also of note is a fish species that appears to be on the path to reaching a convergent evolutionary point with flatfish. 8 million years hence Thunder and lightning echo in the distance. The inland forests slowly quiet down as mammal and proto-amphibian alike take shelter deep under water and in the safety of burrows, dreys, and treetop nests. Giant horseflies and other large insects zip through the forest canopy in search of prey, whether it be the bugs that still retain their original size, or the young of the growing variety of rodent descendants that include wolf- and bear-like terrestrial predators of up to 6 feet in length. Quite suddenly, a furry creature leaps from a branch and glides several dozen feet, snatching one of the horseflies right out of the air and pinning it to the ground upon the animal‘s landing. This gliding insectivore descendant is over 3 feet long from snout to tail, and has a flap span of almost that same distance. That being said, could it be possible that the era of insect dominion over the skies is already closer to an end than a beginning? In the streams, conflict over prey between rainbow trout and the freshwater lineage of four eyers has concluded at last with a trout victory, with the other fish group having become more specialized in their diet and accepted algae as their primary source of food. The sight and sound of waves being splashed up in the rivers as thrashing fights break out has therefore also disappeared as a result. Some fish and the open seas have developed thicker, sharper teeth as a means to crack open the tough armor of crabs, although filter feeding fish that prey on krill have still remained a prominent feature of the pelagic regions of the oceans that surround what are currently four main large continents. Category:Terraforming Category:Future Evolution